Two Hearts Rusting Together
by sailorraven34
Summary: Five times Pietor made his sister a promise, and the one time he broke it.
1. This Is The Place We Return To, Right?

**Haven't read Deadlock, so this is purely headcanon and may or may not be partially based off of real-life events.**

It was a Monday, the first day of Spring Break and it was far too cold in the apartment to do anything other than laze around in pajamas and slippers and wish their crummy building had a better heater.

Their mother entered the living room. "Anastasia, why don't you ever play with the crayons anymore?"

The six year old girl looked up from her dolls with a face full of scorn. "Crayons are for babies." she declared.

"Well, all right. Then there really isn't any point in keeping this gigantic bin…" She set it down on the table in front of Pietor, Elena and Anastasia. Pietor looked up from his book. It really was huge…

"Can't we keep some?" Elena asked, running her hand through the massive pile of wax and wrappers and childhood nostalgia. "You know, for when Aunt Mariya and the cousins come." she added quickly.

Their mother shrugged. "As long as you keep the box in your room."

Elena nodded, and stood up to get a smaller box. Pietor began picking out all the broken stubs and tossing them into the rubbish bin. God, they had a lot of crayons. He supposed it was probably because back in elementary school, Elena had insisted on a box of new ones every year (that was before things had gotten so bad, money wise) and every June they'd simply dumped the old, broken ones into the bin to sit, forgotten.

"_What are you doing?"_ Elena yelled, dropping the box on the floor and running towards him.

"What do you mean?" Pietor asked. All he'd been doing was throwing away all the ones that were broken or mostly used up.

"You threw away the metallic silver!" Elena hissed, frantically scrabbling around to retrieve it. "You can't do _that!_ And what about this one- it's neon orange, it was a limited edition color!"

"Sorry." Pietor mumbled, tossing away another handful. Elena stared at him for a few minutes before shaking her head.

"We're going to have to sort these all by color." she informed him, shaking her head as though she was disappointed in his crayon-sorting ability.

Pietor nodded and scooped out a handful, carefully picking out all the blue and setting them down on the table. Elena scowled. "Not like that, stupid! By the individual color! See…" She picked up three and scanned the wrappers for the official names of the colors. "This one is ocean blue and this one is cornflower and this one is Just Blue, do you understand?"

"I guess so, but why-"

"So that we can make sure we have all the colors, of course!" Elena snarled, outraged at his stupidity. "And then at the end we can keep the longest one of each color. Got it?"

"But that will take twice as long!"

"So?"

They glared at each other for a few seconds before Pietor relented, as he always did. They began sorting in angry silence, Pietor taking the reds and Elena the yellows.

Anastasia meandered over, looking bored. "Hey, Pietor."

"What?"

"Do you have a girrrrrrrrrlfriend?" She stretched out the word to ridiculous proportions and tilted her head to stare at him.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Girls are stupid."

"_I'm_ stupid?" Elena demanded.

"A bit. What did you get on the last maths test, a 37?"

"Ooooh… shut up."

They sat in silence for a few seconds.

"Anastasia, if you're going to sit here, you might as well sort crayons."

"Don't want to."

"Why not?"

"Crayons are for babies."

"Oh for goodness sake, _touching_ them isn't going to-"

"Hey, Ana." Pietor said, cutting Elena off. "If you help us, I'll take you to the arcade later."

She chewed on her lip, contemplating. "Really? Do you promise?"

"Yes." said Pietor.

With great trepidation Anastasia scooped out a handful of crayons. "Ooh, marzipan Santa!" she said with renewed interest, fishing it out of the pile. She unwrapped it and bit off the head.

"Yuck." Elena said in disgust.

"It's only a few months old." Anastasia mumbled through the chocolate. "Besides, chocolate never goes bad-"

"Anastasia, that's not from last year. That's from when you were four. Remember?"

Anastasia blanched, and spat the marzipan missile across the room, where it narrowly missed the cat and thunked behind the couch to be forgotten about. Then she fled from the room (skidding on the hard-wood floor in her tights) screaming "MAMA! PIETOR AND ELENA TRIED TO POISON ME!"

"What a sweet kid." Pietor said in disgust.

Anastasia poked her head back into the room. "I heard that." she hissed, pointing at him.

"So?" Elena said, raising an eyebrow.

Anstasia scowled. "I hate both of you!" she yelled. "I wouldn't even care if you dropped dead right now!" She stomped out of the room, throwing her doll on the floor.

"I would say she's PMSing," Elena muttered as she threw out a handful of red-violets. "except she's six."

"What, you don't want to keep even one of that color?"

Elena's eyes blazed. "This color is _evil._ Every time I want to draw something red, I grab this one instead and it ruins the whole drawing." She glanced down at her watch. "Ack!"

"What?"

"Forgot I was meeting… um, someone." She stood up. "Can you finish this?"

"Do you _trust_ me to finish this?"

Elena glared.

"Are you going to go and see that boy again?"

"He has a name, you know." Elena said as she put on her coat.

"Just don't do anything stupid."

"Love _is_ stupidity." Elena tossed out haughtily as she waltzed out the door.

Pietor grunted and went back to his crayons.


	2. With A Simple And Innocent Face

"Pietor?"

"Just a second, I'm almost done with this problem." he said absent-mindedly, inputting the last set of numbers into the calculator. After scribbling down his answer, he looked up at his younger sister, who had draped herself around the edge of the doorway for whatever reason. "Wait- you're supposed to be at school. What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't stand to be surrounded by those imbecilic excuses for human beings any longer." she snarled, tossing her schoolbag down onto the table. "It's none of their goddamn business who I kiss."

"Hm. That's interesting." Pietor said, already going back to his schoolwork.

Anastasia crossed her arms. "Really? I just told you that I kissed someone- for the first time, I might add- and you don't even _care?_ What sort of older brother are you?"

"Well, I have exams next week and-"

"Also, I said a swear. In the same sentence. And you still don't care." She flopped down onto the battered couch. "_Elena_ would care."

"Right, and that's why you spend half your time plotting elaborate revenge schemes against her."

"They'll work someday, I swear." she said determinedly. "What if I told you I didn't just kiss her?"

Pietor looked up. "Anastasia." he said. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, and you're going to go up to your room and do your homework and then _everyone will be happy._"

"Her name is Ka-"

"Why can't you just be normal?" Pietor roared, eyes flashing suddenly.

Anastasia wasn't frightened by his sudden temper, though. "I'm trying!" she spat back.

They stared at each other for a moment.

"Learn some goddamn respect." he grunted.

"What if I don't want to?"

"It will come in handy, I promise."

"Oh, fuc-"

"_What_?" Elena hissed as she entered the room.

"Oh look, it's the Wicked Witch of the North!" Anastasia clicked the heels of her socks together. "There's no place like home, there's no place like home… god damn it, why isn't it working, Toto?"

"Why am I Toto?" Pietor wondered aloud to nobody in particular.

"Did you just say that you _kissed_ someone?" Elena snarled.

"Oh!" Anastasia jumped to her feet, no longer paying attention to her sister. "It's The Boyfriend! Hello, The Boyfriend! I like the scarf. It makes you look too dorky to be banging my sister."

"_Anastasia-_"

"Will everybody please shut up? I am _trying _to do a _THING._" Pietor barked as The Boyfriend approached Anastasia and they did their secret handshake.

"If you're going to be grouchy could you possibly express using a sentence a little more complicated than a three year old level." Elena intoned.

"Whoa there." said The Boyfriend. "You just said we were going to stop by and get your notebook for class, not start a war against your siblings, my dear."

Elena made a face.

"Yes, why don't you go back to your class!" Pietor protested, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Finals… do none of you know the meaning of finals?"

"Boyfriend, can I drive your truck?" Anastasia asked, draping herself over his arm.

"I really don't think you should be trusted with a vehicle yet." he said, shaking his head. "Besides, it's illegal for you to drive."

"Since when do _you_ care about doing illegal things?" Anastasia asked, the light glinting off her crooked front teeth. The Boyfriend smiled back at her, and it seemed there was a hint of sadness to it.

"Then I will go get my notebook." Elena said finally. Anastasia waited barely a second until she was out of the room before she jumped to her feet, hissing "Come with me! I've got to show you something."

She bounded down the hallway to the room she shared with Elena, opening up a desk drawer and removing a battered cherry-colored notebook. "Remember that stuff you were talking about? When the car broke down and all. Well, I did some research and I've drafted some prototypes."

"Ana-"

"Check it out." She eagerly opened to a page in the middle covered with a pencil sketch of a fist smashing a globe "I was thinking-"

"Ana." He took the notebook in his hands. "Ana, you need to stop this."

"Stop what?" she asked.

"You know what you're doing." He tucked his scarf into his coat. "I'm dating your sister, Ana. You-"

She cut him off with a hard kiss, practiced in the schoolyard. He pushed her away. "Ana-"

"I love you." she hissed.

"You're thirteen years old. You don't know what 'love' is yet."

"That's not true! Don't treat me like a child!"

"Ana." He took her small cold hands in his. "You _are_ a child. Please, enjoy it."

She sat like that for a very long time, as the truck pulled out of the driveway and crushed her fragile heart beneath its tires. She hated this feeling, so _delicate…_

She decided that he didn't know what he was talking about. No one enjoyed behind a child- she wanted to grow up already and crush the world beneath her feet.

She hurled the notebook out the window, the pages scattered like the petals of a rose in the snow.

**Starting to get into the more depressing bits… just wait until next chapter. **


	3. But We Joined Our Hands

She sat on the couch, the bouquet of lilies in her hands seconds away from meeting their end at her destructive fingertips. Pietor sat beside her, silent as always.

"Fix it." she intoned quietly.

He reached out to touch her shoulder. "I'm not sure what you mean, Ana."

"Fix it. Fix this. Fix us. Fix _her._" A sob rose in her chest but she choked it down as best she could.

"I'm sorry, Ana-"

"_I don't want your goddamn apologies!_" The bouquet went spinning through the air, the lilies scattering around them in a circle of shame. She stood, panting for reasons she doesn't understand because all she did was get up.

Everything is hard now, as though the universe is pressing down around her and gravity has increased a hundredfold.

They went silent.

"You can't act like this in public." Pietor finally told her. "You have to hold it together."

"How the _hell_ am I supposed to do that?"

"Just pretend, Ana. Don't think about how much it hurts. Focus on the task you are completing and nothing else."

She nodded, slowly. It made sense, actually.

"You'll go back to school tomorrow. I want you to start packing up your things. You'll move in with Aunt Mariya on Wednesday."

"What about her stuff?" she said dully.

"I will take care of that." He stood up, too, and kissed her forehead. "I have to get back to work. I'll be back this weekend to check on you.

She nodded.

"It helps." he said quietly. "I promise."

**I thought about making this chapter longer, but I like it as is. **

**On a more important note, I'm probably not going to be posting this month. As you may or may not know, November is Nanowrimo (which stands for something important) during which you're supposed to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. Since I just got a brilliant idea beamed straight into my brain today, I'm taking it as a sign that I might actually be able to finish. So after this you're just going to have to wait, although I may post the next chapter of Nice Things because I've already made a good start on it. See you in December!**


	4. There Will Always Be Warmth Here

**Hi.**

**I'm back**

**Sort of. I mean, I was really bad at being on hiatus anyways so… well. Here. Furans. Have fun.**

Finally, she felt safe. It was odd that it took physically trapping herself to achieve the sensation. This was her home, after all. Pietor was here, and…

"It wasn't your fault." Elena said gently.

"This is my panic attack closet, and if you don't mind I'm afraid I'm going to have to use it right now."

Somehow her subconsciousness managed to perfectly replicate the annoyed tone Elena had often used with her younger sister when she had still been alive. "Ana…"

"Don't call me that." she said stiffly. "My name is Anastasia."

"Anastasia." Elena said, her voice becoming gentler. "This isn't you. You aren't a… a robot. Don't let this silly revenge quest turn you into one."

"I'm going to kill him, Elena." Anastasia promised, staring down at her fingers. One of them was bloody- she must have torn the nail thrashing around in her sleep. "Boyfriend, I'm going to kill him for you."

"Do you honestly think that will change anything?" Elena snapped. "You always said I was the stupid one-"

"You are!" she yelled, her voice rising.

"Why?" Elena snarled. "Because I let myself fall in love?"

"Because you _died!_" Anastasia yelled, punching the wall beside her sister's head with all of her strength. For a moment, Elena's eyes went wide, displaying the exact blank look of shock she'd worn as her heart stopped beating. Then she was gone. Of course, she had never really been there in the first place…

She pressed her bloody knuckles into her sleeve. Pietor would be beyond upset if he found her here. Thankfully, it was a mostly unused part of the facility, so if she was just quiet when she snuck back into their quarters-

She heard a quiet, high-pitched sob from somewhere outside the so-deemed Panic Attack Closet and froze. Crap. Was it… a student? How was she supposed to explain why she was hiding inside a closet to a student?

_Then get out of the closet!_ her brain yelled.

So she did, and somehow managed to even do so undetected. She could hardly believe her luck. She was about to sneak off when she finally glanced over her shoulder to glance at the girl.

It was _her._

Natalya or Raven or whatever she wanted to be called. She was sitting in the middle of the empty room staring up at the ceiling crying in almost complete silence. One of her small, pale hands was wrapped around the handle of a knife.

_So that's what Pietor meant by delicate._

She took another step backwards, but she wasn't quite paying attention to where she was going and her foot hit one of the creaky floorboards she had supposedly memorized. The girl shot to her feet, all trace of emotion suddenly gone from her face.

Before she knew what she was doing, Anastasia had her gun in her hand and pointed at Natalya's heart. They stared at each other for a moment before she decided to take a chance and lower it. In turn, Natalya dropped the knife, blankly following its path to the floor with her eyes. She slowly sank back down to her knees, and in that moment Anastasia saw that her forearm was dripping red.

"You shouldn't do that." she said, her voice a little hoarse. "It doesn't help. It only shows other people that you're weak."

Raven remained frozen. Slowly and cautiously, her finger still on the trigger, Anastasia crossed the room and sat down beside her.

"Just focus on one thing." Anastasia told her. "It's not a permanent solution, but it makes it better."

"I am." Raven said sharply, her fingers finding the knife again.

"Okay." she said, leaning away from the girl.

Raven stared down at her knees. "I'm going to kill you."

"I believe you've said this on multiple occasions." Anastasia said crisply. "However, whether you actually have the guts to do it is another matter entirely."

The knife flashed, and Anastasia just barely managed to catch Natalya's wrist before the girl could do damage. "I _do._" Natalya hissed.

"We'll see." Anastasia said simply.

Natalya glared at her for a few seconds, then set the knife back down. They sat in silence for a moment, then Anastasia said "I love looking at the stars, don't you?"

Natalya said nothing.

"That's one of my favorite things about this place- you can always see them." Anastasia told her.

Slowly, Natalya leaned her head against Anastasia's shoulder, allowing her entire body to relax. Anastasia smiled, and reached out to touch the smaller girl's hair.

###

She must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew she was awoken to the sound of Pietor laughing.

"Oh, this is good." Pietor said as she rubbed her eyes. Natalya was still completely passed out, her head resting on Anastasia's lap. "The two sociopaths having a bonding moment. Amazing."

Murder in her eyes, his sister stood up. "Well, it seemed to work far better than anything _you've_ done."

"Stop trying to imply things." Pietor snapped, his demeanor instantly changing

"Then you stop-"

Natalya let out a grunt and stirred slightly. The two adults stared down at each other.

"You used to do that." Pietor said nostalgically. "Fall asleep on us. All the time. You could sleep anywhere."

"Really?" she asked as they headed for the exit.

"Yes. Do you remember that one time we went ice skating? On the pond?"

"No…" she said, smiling.

"When we get back I'll show you the pictures." he said. "They're pretty entertaining."

"Promise?" she asked, linking her hand with his.

"Promise." he said, rolling his eyes.

**I don't know… I thought Natalya and Anastasia needed to bond. **

**I'm going to try really hard to finish this, so expect more soon.**


	5. I Won't Regret Making This Sinful Wish

When she came to, the first thing she was aware of was the pain. Then confusion enveloped her. She must be dead. She had to be dead. But unless the afterlife was a hospital room that smelled vaguely of chili with her older brother face down in the blankets, she was still alive.

"Pietor?" she mumbled, pushing the oxygen mask off her face. Her voice came out a weak rasp.

Her brother said nothing. He must be asleep. She tried to sit up, but the air seemed to be growing thinner by the second and she slapped the oxygen mask back on as she began to panic.

How had she survived? The helicopter had virtually turned into a flaming fireball of death. She stared down at herself. _Oh…_ She swallowed down her nausea and closed her eyes. It would be okay. They would find Boyfriend again. But this time, they wouldn't just kill him. They would humiliate him, destroy him and everything that he owned and stood for-

"Ana." breathed Pietor, opening his eyes. So he was the one responsible for the chili smell. "Oh god, _Ana…_"

He threw his arms around her neck, burying his face in her hair.

"Hey." she said, her voice coming out strange from the mask. "Hey…. Petya… ow. You're choking me. I can't _breathe, _Petya!"

"Sorry…" Pietor leaned back. "Do you remember what happened?"

Anastasia nodded, pulling off the mask. "It's a little…" She stopped to gasp for breath. "fuzzy… but I think I have all the important bits. Nero believes I'm dead?"

"Yes." Pietor said, suddenly looking rather uncomfortable.

"Good. Then we'll have plenty of time to plan our counter-attack." she said briskly. "I think we-"

"Stop." Pietor said firmly. "Ana, this is our chance."

"Yes, that's exactly what I just said." Anastasia said, rolling her eyes.

"No, our chance to leave." Pietor told her. "Get out of this business entirely. We can move somewhere else, maybe get a dog or something… we've got enough money to last us a while. And who knows, maybe you'll meet a nice guy… or girl, or whatever, and-"

"What?" Anastasia demanded. "You want me to just abandon everything I've worked for? I can't do that! I owe-"

"You don't owe anybody anything!" Pietor yelled, grabbing her hand. "You deserve to have your own life, Ana! Just forget about this!"

"Are you… _betraying_ me?" Anastasia demanded.

"Ana…" Pietor ran a hand through his hair. "The only reason I allowed you to do _any_ of this is that I thought it would make you happy. But... it hasn't changed anything. You're still depressed and unstable-"

"Excuse me, _what?_" Anastasia growled.

"I'm not explaining this very well, am I?" Her brother sighed. "Ana… just come with me. Please?"

"No!" Anastasia yelled, shoving him away. The simple action left her completely breathless. "No. This is my life! If you don't like it, then you can just… go!"

"Leave?" Pietor bit his lip. "Fine."

Her stomach dropped like she was riding on an elevator.

"Fine." she echoed, turning away from him.

"I'm serious, Ana." Pietor stood up. "I'm not going to stand by and watch you destroy yourself."

"Then go on. Walk out that door." Anastasia said, voice icy. "_I dare you._"

Pietor was silent. She heard the rustling of the sheets as he got to his feet.

"Don't worry." she heard him say. "I'll be back if you ever need me… I promise."

As the door closed behind him, Anastasia wiped the tears from her eyes. She did not need her brother. She didn't need anyone. Her own hatred would be enough to get her through this.

_Pietor_ _is wrong._ she told herself firmly. _This is the right thing to do. And when Boyfriend is dead, I _will_ be happy._


	6. No One Mourns The Wicked

Deep down, she was a firecracker. Even though her fuse had grown longer over the years, nothing could change that simple fact. Elena was more like fire, bright and dazzling and life-saving at times but just as quick to burn you if you got to close. That was why she needed Pietor, Pietor her rock, always steady and calm and ready to shoot whatever got within an inch of his Anabanana.

Everything was cold, unnaturally cold, as she stood and stared at what simply could _not_ be true.

_She is seven, and banging furiously on the buttons. She's getting close. Maybe this will be it, the sun and the moon and the stars all aligning for one perfect moment-_

"_Ana?" Elena asks, appearing out of the forest of cabinets. _

"_Just a second!" she hisses. But it's already too late- she has lost her concentration, and GAME OVER screen swims before her eyes. _

"_Did you waste all your quarters on this already?" Elena demands. _

"_I-"_

_Elena frowns. "Honestly, you're just like Pietor." _

"_I wanna get the high score." Anastasia mutters. _

"_Do you think that _matters_?" Elena snaps. "You should be focusing on school, not silly imaginary aliens. Have you finished your math homework?"_

"_No, but I-"_

"_Then come on." Elena says, tugging at her arm. "You aren't allowed to play until your schoolwork is completed.."_

"_Who made up that rule?"_

_Elena stares her little sister in the face with steely eyes. "_I_ did."_

"_That's not fair." Anastasia objects._

_Elena snorts. "Someone has to be the adult in this family…"_

This couldn't be happening. A strangled, hysterical laugh forced its way out of her mouth. Maybe he was playing a joke on her, a trick.

"_Ana, come on!" he yells, banging on her door. _

"_I can't!" She stares dejectedly into the mirror. Why does she even need to do the ninth grade, anyway? As soon as she is old enough, she's going to become a spy, like her father. Maybe she'll even send Stupid Elena back some of those silly Disney tapes she adores. She doesn't need to know Algebra and The Distinctions Between Similes And Metaphors to do _that.

"_I'm going to break down your goddamn door!"_

"_I'm not leaving this chair!" she shrieks, crossing her arms._

"_Be that way." Pietor says. A moment later, there is a _thud_ and the whole wall shakes. _

_He is literally going to break down her door. Sighing, she stands up and opens it just as he was about to slam it with his shoulder again. _

"_I'm going to be late, Ana." Pietor says crossly. "Do you know what happens if I'm late?"_

"_No, but-"_

"_I'm going to get fired." he tells her. "What the hell is the matter with you?"_

_She points dejectedly at her chin. _

"_You have a pimple." Pietor says dully. _

"_Not just any pimple. An Attack Pimple. Look at it! It's practically the size of my nose!"_

"_Is that why you're wearing so much makeup?"_

_She scowls. "Everybody does this now, Petya."_

"_And everybody gets zits too." he says, seizing her arm. "Now, come on. We don't have time for this."_

But no one would dare try to trick _her._ She was the evil queen, the big bad wolf. Doing so would get you killed.

"_This is the stupidest movie ever." she says, burying her head in the throw pillow. "I… I don't understand! I was so excited-"_

"_Maybe you just had your nostalgia goggles on?" her brother asks. _

"_What the hell does that mean?"_

"_You know, _Star Wars _reminds you of your childhood." he says. "You were ten when you saw most of the other ones. But there's no way it could possibly live up to what you saw as a kid because you weren't nearly as cynical back then."_

"_Cynical? I'm not cynical."_

"_Ana… just shut up and watch the movie." Pietor said with a sigh. _

"_I can't…" whined Anastasia. "Jar Jar is talking again."_

_He shoved a bowl into Anastasia's hands. "Then get me more popcorn or something, geez."_

But no one would have dared play a trick on her now. She was the evil queen, the big bad wolf.

And she was all alone.

"_I'll be back if you ever need me… I promise."_

_I need you._ she thought, her hands clenching into fists as she stared at the screen. She was still in her pajamas, the purple silky ones Pietor had given her for a long-ago birthday after she complained about always overheating when she slept. _Come back._

The Pietor on the screen didn't move. She forced herself to look away from him, and instead found herself fixated on Raven's face. She looked… relieved. How could anyone be happy about her brother was dead? What was _wrong_ with her? Didn't she ever realize how much Pietor had _done_ for her? For both of them?

_Boyfriend._ she thought suddenly. This was all his fault. It was always his fault. He just couldn't let her go. He had to ruin _everything-_ first her sister, then Raven, then her brother… and he always blamed _her._ She wouldn't have done anything to him if he hadn't destroyed her life first!

No, she wouldn't think of him as Boyfriend anymore. What was the point of making someone a nameless ghost? He was real, and no amount of wishful thinking would make her demon go away.

His name was Maximillian Nero, and she was going to kill him, even if it took the deaths of everybody she cared about. Not that that there were many left, anyway. It did not how much she had to be punished for her sins. She _had_ to avenge Elena, and now her brother too.

_And then what?_ a nasty little voice said from the back of her mind.

_That doesn't matter_. she told herself. _I'll just kill Max, and then everything would be okay… and all the things I've done will be worth it…_

**Annnd… done!**

***sigh* I love twisted characters. Anywho, I have made a poll on my profile with some story ideas I've been playing around with, so vote if you like. Hope you enjoyed!**


End file.
